The online pictures made the resort look like paradise. It is not. My issues with this resort is that the parking is not close to the resort. You have to take the shuttle that has no air condition and you should hope that it is working. The shuttle broke after we arrived and then the resort was hauling everyone around in golf carts which was a joke. I attended a conference with over 200 women. Imagine waiting with 50-75 other women for a golf cart that sits 3-4 people just to get to you car. The fitness center, tennis courts, spa, etc. was a long walk or shuttle ride away. The pool was not clean and full of sand every morning. Now lets talk about housekeeping. The first morning that we were there, the service did not even make our bed. The second morning, we left a note asking for extra towels and asked service to make bed. I guess since she had to make bed, the garbage did not get taken. It seemed like nothing was wiped down including the sink. My spouse and I begin to wonder if the sheets were changed prior to us arriving at the resort with this type of service. The food and drinks were overrpriced. The only thing that I enjoyed at this resort was the classes that I took for my conference. I would never stay at this resort in the future.

The hotel is split over several buildings - the main hotel where most of the activity takes place (includes two pools, restaurants, coffee shop, store, piers, hammocks and I assume newer rooms). Then there is the Grande Bay tower where we stayed on the top floor (only has 8 floors) - very quiet, clean and comfortable rooms. It has it's own pool and hot tub and tends to be quieter and less crowded. A very good continental breakfast is served on the 2nd floor. Parking at the Grande Bay is free, Im not sure if that is the case at the main hotel. It also has a building of condos and a conference center, as well as the spa. All these buildings can be reached by foot or there is a regular trolley/golf cart run that takes you between buildings.

Overall our stay was very relaxing and wonderful. I have posted photos of our hotel room and the view from that room. It was very humid at times and there was little bit of a funky smell (I believe from the mud flats) that you would get outside on the balcony but nothing to deter us at least, from staying again. The room is probably not as new (the furniture was a little dated) as the ones in the main hotel but very roomy and comfortable. Maid service came every day and were more than happy to leave you extra towels if you asked. If you go to the pools at the hotels there are towels provided for you so you don't have to pack any.

Sanibel and Captiva Islands were beautiful and well worth the $6.00 toll you pay to get over the causeway. We rented a car at RSW airport and it was well worth it because we spent each evening exploring both islands. The Shell Museum was fascinating and my 9 year old son enjoyed reading and learning about different shells and he got to choose two to take home with him! There is an entrance fee. Bowman's beach is very large, water is like a bath tub and there are thousands of shells to search through.

My son decided to keep a recorded of all the restaurants we visited and rate them out of ten. The ones that scored 7 or more were - the Lighthouse (wonderful breakfasts - granola pancakes were yummy); the Island Cow (a huge menu with a variety of different foods - lots of fish cooked any way you like - portions are big); Keylime Bistro on Captiva Island had some very good shrimp and other fresh fish and outside entertainment nightly); the Mucky Duck also on Captiva had a very good grouper sandwich and a variety of other foods and is literally located on the edge of beautiful Captiva beach were you can watch the sunset. For desserts we headed to a little ice-cream store located opposite the Keylime Bistro and had very yummy black raspberry and chocolate chip and cookies and cream that were definitely homemade with big chunks of oreo cookie. For some yummy homemade cakes, the Bubble Room on Captiva gives you huge slabs to eat out take out. If you are still at the hotel we tried the Cove Inn located right next to the main pool and it was adequate for children and a light lunch.

Restaurants you could probably give a miss - the Tarpon room at the hotel (service was poor, food inadequate and expensive); the Blue Giraffe on Sanibel (kids pizza was store bought and tasted like cardboard!) and the last one the Sanibel Bean (very poor service and both the smoothies we had did not have much taste).

We love this part of Florida and will definitely be back again.

2 bedroom waterfront condo. Could use some renovating, but can't beat the price. Great food, great service. Screened lanai was the perfect place to watch the boats go by.

My husband and I just returned from the most unbelievable getaway to the Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa! We stayed in the Grand Bay building, which I would strongly recommend. The pool at the Grand Bay is peaceful and much less busy than the pool at the main resort. Although there is no poolside service at Grand Bay, every room has a fridge so we brought our own bottled soda and water down and saved a ton of money! Absolutely everything about this hotel was immaculate! Our room was on the 7th floor with the most amazing water view of the bay and bridge to Sanibel Island. Every morning and every evening we could see the sun rising and setting over the bay and island. It was magnificent! The room was huge! It had 2 queen beds, with a desk in between, as well as a loveseat and chair, and a large bathroom with 2 sinks, separate toilet room and shower. We received a complementary breakfast on the second floor every morning, which fresh fruit, pastries, dry cereal, bagels, toast, juice, water and coffee. This saved us so much money over the course of the week! Grab a few bottles of water each day to take back to the fridge in your room. Everyone does it and the staff does not mind at all. (We also printed our boarding passes in this second floor area when it was time to return home.) The hotel also does not charge for parking, as most of the Sanibel and Captiva hotels do. There is also no charge for internet, which you can use through broadband modem in the hotel, or wireless anywhere on the resort. This was a dependable luxury for us, as I teach online courses and experienced no downtime whatsoever. The location of the hotel is perfect. You can zip over the bridge to the island to any of the beaches in 2 minutes. The toll to cross the bridge is $6.00, so budget it in, because you will likely want to hit the Sanibel and Captiva beaches daily. You do not have to pay a toll to leave the island. We visited Ft. Myers beach on day one, but never again after seeing the island beaches! They are amazing...white sand and shells galore! We liked Bowman's Beach, and it was the best public beach for the sunset, although it was off to the side a bit. However, that beach has parking (all parking is $2.00 per hour). Another great beach is on Tarpon Bay Road. You have to park and then cross the street, but the beach was incredible. Both of these beaches have restrooms. Grab a couple of towels from the pool area to take to the beach. We brought 2 beach towels from home, but also took two from the pool area and four was perfect. We used the same towels all week, since you just lay them on the sand and shake them out after. There is basically no public beach on the Captiva side with parking. Captiva is less developed and caters to the private homes and condos. We ate at Cheeburger Cheeburger and Doc Fords, and would highly recommend both. Kids will love Cheeburger, and Doc's is a bar, so it is better for adults. Back to Sanibel Harbour....after exploring the area for 8 days, it was clearly the best choice. Everything on the island is more expensive, and you are quite limited in what you can get on the island. Staying on the Ft. Myers side offered us many shopping and dinner options, with the luxury of hitting Sanibel and Captiva daily. It was perfect! We did not use the spa, but visited the Main Pool a few times. The food is great at the snack shack, and the service is great poolside, but be prepared to pay $13.00 for a burger and fries. We did notice that if we ordered food, we were only charged one drink price and enjoyed free soda refills by the pool for quite awhile. We were never sure what the time restrictions were on that deal, but were afraid to ask! We did the Adventures in Paradise Dolphin Cruise, which is located right down the road from the hotel. We only saw a couple of dolphins, but enjoyed the boat ride. This company will pick you up at the resort, but we had a rental car and parking was never a problem at Grand Bay, so we just drove up to check in and get on the boat. It was a fabulous week, and we cannot wait to go back and bring the kids. We will need two connecting rooms for that trip, but the Grand Bay at Sanibel Harbour is definitely where we will go!